A Walrasian theory of commodity money: Paradoxical results

The objective of this note is to analyze some implications of the model of commodity money described in Banerjee and Maskin (1996) which may seem paradoxical. In order to do this, we incorporate a general production cost structure into the model. We focus on two different results. First, the existence of technologies that make counterfeiting a commodity more difficult may exclude it from being used as medium of exchange. Second, allocative distortions due to problems of asymmetric information may become larger in the presence of such technologies.

Institutional support of the firm: A theory of business registries

Registering originative business contracts allows entrepreneurs and creditors to choose, andcourts to enforce market-friendly contract rules that protect innocent third parties whenadjudicating disputes on subsequent contracts. This reduces information asymmetry for thirdparties, which enhances impersonal trade. It does so without seriously weakening property rights,because it is rightholders who choose or activate the legal rules and can, therefore, minimize thecost of any possible weakening. Registries are essential not only to make the chosen rules publicbut to ensure rightholders commitment and avoid rule-gaming, because independent registriesmake rightholders choices verifiable by courts. The theory is supported by comparative andhistorical analyses.

A leverage theory of reputation building with co-branding: Complementarity in reputation building

We present a leverage theory of reputation building with co-branding. We showthat under certain conditions, co-branding that links unknown firms in a new sectorwith established firms in a mature sector allows the unknown firms to signal a highproduct quality and establish their own reputation. We compare this situationwith a benchmark in which both sectors are new and firms signal their qualityonly with prices. We investigate how this comparison is affected by the nature ofthe technology linking the two sectors and a cross-sector inference problem thatconsumers might face in identifying the true cause of product failure. We find thatco-branding facilitates the process in which a Þrm in the new sector to signal itsproduct quality only if the co-branding sectors produce complementary inputs andconsumers face a cross-sector inference problem. We apply our insight to economicsof superstars, multinational firms and co-authorship.

A theory of reference-dependent behavior

Extensive field and experimental evidence in a variety of environments show that behavior depends on a reference point. This paper provides an axiomatic characterization of this dependence. We proceed by imposing gradually more structure on both choice correspondences and preference relations, requiring increasingly higher levels of rationality, and freeing the decision-maker from certain types of inconsistencies. The appropriate degree of behavioral structure will depend on the phenomenon that is to be modeled. Lastly, we provide two applications of our work: one to model the status-quo bias, and another to model addictive behavior.

The growth and diffusion of knowlegde and the theory of the firm

We analyze the implications of a market imperfection related to the inability to establish intellectual property rights, that we label {\it unverifiable communication}. Employees are able to collude with external parties selling ``knowledge capital'' of the firm. The firm organizer engages in strategic interaction simultaneously with employees and competitors, as she introduces endogenous transaction costs in the market for information between those agents. Incentive schemes and communication costs are the key strategic variables used by the firm to induce frictions in collusive markets. Unverifiable communication introduces severe allocative distortions, both at internal product development and at intended sale of information (technology transfer). We derive implications of the model for observable decisions like characteristics of the employment relationship (full employment, incompatibility with other jobs), firms' preferences over cluster characteristics for location decisions, optimal size at entry, in--house development vs sale strategies for innovations and industry evolution.

A search theory of money and commerce with Neoclassical production

This paper advances a highly tractable model with search theoretic foundations for money and neoclassical growth. In the model, manufacturingand commerce are distinct and separate activities. In manufacturing,goods are efficiently produced combining capital and labor. In commerce,goods are exchanged in bilateral meetings. The model is applied to studythe effects of inßation on capital accumulation and welfare. With realisticparameters, inflation has large negative effects on welfare even though itraises capital and output. In contrast, with cash-in-advance, a deviceinformally motivated with bilateral trading, inflation depresses capitaland output and has a negligible effect on welfare.

Critical Role of the GM-CSF Signaling Pathway in Macrophage Pro-Repair Activities.

OBJECTIVE: Macrophages play a critical role in intestinal wound repair. However, the molecular pathways that regulate macrophage wound repair activities remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of GM-CSF receptor signaling in the wound repair activities of macrophages. METHODS: Murine macrophages were differentiated from bone marrow cells and human macrophages from monocytes isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Crohn's disease (CD) patients. In vitro models were used to study the repair activities of macrophages. RESULTS: We provide evidence that GM-CSF receptor signaling is required for murine macrophages to promote epithelial repair. In addition, we demonstrate that the deficient repair properties of macrophages from CD patients with active disease can be recovered via GM-CSF therapy. CONCLUSION: Our data support a critical role of the GM-CSF signaling pathway in the pro-repair activities of mouse and human macrophages. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A positive theory of geographic mobility and social insurance

This paper presents a tractable dynamic general equilibrium model thatcan explain cross-country empirical regularities in geographical mobility,unemployment and labor market institutions. Rational agents vote overunemployment insurance (UI), taking the dynamic distortionary effects ofinsurance on the performance of the labor market into consideration.Agents with higher cost of moving, i.e., more attached to their currentlocation, prefer more generous UI. The key assumption is that an agent'sattachment to a location increases the longer she has resided there. UIreduces the incentive for labor mobility and increases, therefore, thefraction of attached agents and the political support for UI. The mainresult is that this self-reinforcing mechanism can give rise to multiplesteady-states-one 'European' steady-state featuring high unemployment,low geographical mobility and high unemployment insurance, and one'American' steady-state featuring low unemployment, high mobility andlow unemployment insurance.

The three strands of intercultural polities: a comprehensive view. A critical review of Bouchard and Cantle recent books on interculturalism

Within the emerging policy debate on interculturalism we critically review two recent books in 2012: Bouchard’s L’interculturalisme: un point de vue quebecois, and Cantle’s Interculturalism: The New Era of Cohesion and Diversity. In my view, both contribute very directly to open a foundational debate on interculturalism. In addressing the point of convergence and the dividing lines of these two contributions, I will claim that in spite of having one core concept of interculturalism, there are, however, at least two basic conceptions that have to be interpreted in complementary ways: Bouchard’s essay represents the contractual strand, Cantle’s book the cohesion strand. At the end I would also suggest that these two strands do not manage to express explicitly that diversity can also be seen as a resource of innovation and creativity, and so can drive individual and social development. This view is based on the diversity advantage literature already informing most of the diversity debate in Europe and elsewhere. This is what I will call the constructivist strand. My ultimate purpose is to defend a comprehensive view, grounded on the argument that no one can have the sole authority to define intercultural policy, since the three strands can be applied at different moments, according to different purposes and policy needs. The challenge now is that policy managers be able to achieve a balance between these three policy drivers.

A critical review of the molecular pathophysiology of lenalidomide sensitivity in 5q - myelodysplastic syndromes.

Abstract The 5q deletion is a chromosomal abnormality that is observed in a subset of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). When isolated, this abnormality defines a specific clinical syndrome termed MDS associated with isolated deletion 5q, presenting with macrocytic anemia, normal platelet count or slight thrombocytosis, hypolobated megakaryocytes and fewer than 5% blasts in the bone marrow. MDS with the 5q deletion have a particular sensitivity to treatment with lenalidomide, a thalidomide analog. In this article, molecular changes in 5q- MDS derived from haploinsufficiency of genes encoded from the deleted region in 5q are reviewed, and mechanisms that link these molecular lesions with lenalidomide sensitivity are proposed.

Taking "Galton's problem" Seriously : Towards a Theory of Policy Diffusion

This article builds on the recent policy diffusion literature and attempts to overcome one of its major problems, namely the lack of a coherent theoretical framework. The literature defines policy diffusion as a process where policy choices are interdependent, and identifies several diffusion mechanisms that specify the link between the policy choices of the various actors. As these mechanisms are grounded in different theories, theoretical accounts of diffusion currently have little internal coherence. In this article we put forward an expected-utility model of policy change that is able to subsume all the diffusion mechanisms. We argue that the expected utility of a policy depends on both its effectiveness and the payoffs it yields, and we show that the various diffusion mechanisms operate by altering these two parameters. Each mechanism affects one of the two parameters, and does so in distinct ways. To account for aggregate patterns of diffusion, we embed our model in a simple threshold model of diffusion. Given the high complexity of the process that results, strong analytical conclusions on aggregate patterns cannot be drawn without more extensive analysis which is beyond the scope of this article. However, preliminary considerations indicate that a wide range of diffusion processes may exist and that convergence is only one possible outcome.

Hexyl Aminolevulinate-Guided Fluorescence Cystoscopy in the Diagnosis and Follow-up of Patients with Non-Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer: A Critical Review of the Current Literature.

CONTEXT: Controversy exists regarding the therapeutic benefit and cost effectiveness of photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) with 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) or hexyl aminolevulinate (HAL) in addition to white-light cystoscopy (WLC) in the management of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). OBJECTIVE: To systematically evaluate evidence regarding the therapeutic benefits and economic considerations of PDD in NMIBC detection and treatment. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We performed a critical review of PubMed/Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library in October 2012 according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. Identified reports were reviewed according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) and Standards for the Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD) criteria. Forty-four publications were selected for inclusion in this analysis. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Included reports used 5-ALA (in 26 studies), HAL (15 studies), or both (three studies) as photosensitising agents. PDD increased the detection of both papillary tumours (by 7-29%) and flat carcinoma in situ (CIS; by 25-30%) and reduced the rate of residual tumours after transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT; by an average of 20%) compared to WLC alone. Superior recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates and prolonged RFS intervals were reported for PDD, compared to WLC in most studies. PDD did not appear to reduce disease progression. Our findings are limited by tumour heterogeneity and a lack of NMIBC risk stratification in many reports or adjustment for intravesical therapy use in most studies. Although cost effectiveness has been demonstrated for 5-ALA, it has not been studied for HAL. CONCLUSIONS: Moderately strong evidence exists that PDD improves tumour detection and reduces residual disease after TURBT compared with WLC. This has been shown to improve RFS but not progression to more advanced disease. Further work to evaluate cost effectiveness of PDD is required.

Critical appraisal of single port access cholecystectomy.

BACKGROUND: Single port access (SPA) cholecystectomy is a new concept in laparoscopic surgery. A review of existing results was performed to evaluate critically the current state of SPA with specific reference to feasibility, safety, learning curve, indications and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: All papers identified in MEDLINE until 15 February 2010 and all other relevant papers obtained from cited references were reviewed, without any language restriction. Case reports and series of fewer than three patients were excluded. RESULTS: After selection, 24 studies including 895 patients were analysed. None was randomized. Feasibility seems to be established, with a conversion rate of 2 per cent. SPA was not standardized and there was much technical variation. The learning curve could not be determined. Median follow-up time was 3 (range 0.25-12) months. The overall published complication rate was 5.4 per cent and the biliary complication rate 0.7 per cent. The rate of umbilical complications ranged from 2 to 10 per cent. CONCLUSION: SPA cholecystectomy seems feasible, but standardization, safety and the real benefits for patients need further assessment. Uncontrolled wide adoption of this approach may be responsible for a rise in biliary complications.

Social Cognition is not Reducible to Theory of Mind. When Children use Deontic Rules to Predict Others' Behaviors

The objective of this paper is to discuss whether children have a capacity for deonticreasoning that is irreducible to mentalizing. The results of two experiments point tothe existence of such non-mentalistic understanding and prediction of the behaviourof others. In Study 1, young children (3- and 4-year-olds) were told different versionsof classic false-belief tasks, some of which were modified by the introduction of a ruleor a regularity. When the task (a standard change of location task) included a rule, theperformance of 3-year-olds, who fail traditional false-belief tasks, significantly improved.In Study 2, 3-year-olds proved to be able to infer a rule from a social situation and touse it in order to predict the behaviour of a character involved in a modified versionof the false-belief task. These studies suggest that rules play a central role in the socialcognition of young children and that deontic reasoning might not necessarily involvemind reading.